Shoe rack



June 26, 1962 K. N. JONES 3,040,900

SHOE RACK Filed Feb. 8, 1960 l '26 INVENTOR. 1'/ im 2Q /ff/vwaa /l/.JA/ff V BY United States Patent Office 3,040,900 Patented June 26, 1962 3,040,900 SHOE RACK Kenwood N. Jones, Los Angeles, Calif. (9962 Constance St., Dallas 20, Tex.) Filed Feb. 8, 1960, Ser. No. 7,172 3 Claims. (Cl. 211-35) Ihis invention relates to a shoe rack construction that is adapted for general use and more specific use in clothes closets and application to a wall thereof.

An object of the present invention is to provide a rack provided with a complement of shoe holders that grip portions of a shoe to frictionally hold the same nondisplaceable on the rack.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shoe holder that is adapted -to hold shoes of various sizes and/ or having different sizes of heels.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a shoe holder as contemplated, means to increase the range' of heel sizes that may be frictionally gripped.

My invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a Working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of con- "struction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, lwhich will more fully appear in the course of the following description and which is lbased on the accompanying drawing. However, said drawing merely shows, and the following description merely describes, preferred embodiments of the present invention, which are given by -Way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a broken front elevational view of a shoe rack showing one of a complement of shoe holders acfcording to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a similar sectional view showing a shoe in place in said holder.

FIG. 4 is a front View to an increased scale of a modification that adapts the shoe holder to grip the heels of shoes of small and intermediate size.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional View of a modification that engages across the sole of a shoe to grip the same and hold the shoe on the rack.

The present shoe holder 5 is shown as carried by a rack or board 6, it being understood that several such holders may be provided for holding several pairs of shoes in easily removed, non-displaceable position against the surface 7 of the rack 6. While the rack shown is capable of application to an existing. wall or to the inner surface of a closet door, it will be understood that the holders 5 may be built into closet walls while the same are being erected.

The rack 5 that is shown comprises a frame 8 that is closed front and back by sheets 9 and 10, a pair of intermediate cleats or strips 8a being provided between said sheets to constitute, at least in part, the mounting means of the shoe holders 5.

The holder 5 that is shown comprises, generally, an element 11 projecting from the face 7 of the rack, a pressure member 12 in opposed relation to the element 11, and resilient `biasing means 13 that presses the member 12 in a direction toward the element 111.

In FIGS. l, 2 and 3, the element `11 is shown as a fixed stud that has a knurled or otherwise roughened face 14 directed toward the member 12. Said stud is adapted to be engaged by the transverse inner face or edge 15 of the heel 16 of a shoe 17 with the sole of said shoe in atwise engagement with the rack face 7 In .instances where the heel is smaller than the ordinary heel of mens shoes, or for instance ladies high heels and the heels of ladies walking shoes, the element 11 may be fitted with a member 18 that has a short end 19 and a longer end 20 in opposed relation. By providing the element 14 -with ats 21 and a hole in member 18 of a size and shape to conform to the crosssectional form of the at-side element l11, said member 18 may be mounted on said element 11 with either the short end 19 or the longer end 20 directed toward the member 12. FIG. 4 shows the member 18 mounted with the longer end 20 thereof directed toward member 12, thereby adapting the device for engaging the face 15a of a high heel 16a.

The member 12 is shown as an arcuate plate 22 that is designed to engage over the rear curved part of a heel 16. In fact, Ysaid member 12 may have any desired shape suitable for the present purpose. A central socket 23 is formed in member 12 for connection on the protruding end 24 of a rod 25 that resides between the frame sheets 9 and 10 and has sliding bearing in the cleats 8a. Said end 24 is shown as bent :forwardly from the rod 25 and as passing through a slot 26 in the sheet 9.

rl`he means "13 is shown as a coil spring 27 around said rod, the same being confined between the adjacent cleat 8a and a cotter or the like 28 on the end of the rod. FIG. 3 shows how said spr-ing 27, after being compressed, expands to draw the member `12 into frictional engagement with the round of the heel and biasing said heel into firm engagement with the element 11, or with ends y19 or 20, as the case may be.

It will be ciear from the foregoing that the heel 16 or 16a is so frictionally gripped as to prevent forward displacement of a shoe held as described, yet a shoe may be easily mounted on and as easily removed from the holder.

FIG. 5 shows the above-described construction modifled to engage across a shoe sole 29, lthe same being adapted to hold heelless shoes. The element 11d is shown as including a flanged roller 30 and the member 1'2 is shown as including a similar flanged roller 31. Thus, the resilient bias of the means 13 is effective to press the roller 3l toward the tixedly mounted roller 30 to engage the edges of a shoe sole, substantially as shown. It is a simple matter to slip the sole 29, in a downward direction between the rollers 30 and 31 to effect such shoe gripping. Since the rollers are provided lwith flanges 32 which engage over the Welt face of the sole edges, the shoe is held quite firmly against the rack surface 7 and against forward displacement.

While I have illustrated and described what I now contemplate to be the Vbest mode of carrying out my invention, the constructions are, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of my` invention. Therefore, I do not wish to restrict myself to the particular forms of construction illustrated and described, but desire to avail myself of all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims. p

Having thus described the inventiomwhat is claimed and desired to be covered by Letters Patent is:

1. A shoe holder comprising a rack provided with an outer sheet having a longitudinal slot therein, longitudinally spaced bearing cleats transversely disposed on one side of the sheet and having aligned guide holes therein, a fixed member extending from the outer face of said sheet and anchored in one of said cleats and aligned with the slot, a rod member guided for longitudinal movement in said guide holes, said bearing cleats extending at respective levels between said. slot and said fixed member, said member having an end bent to extend through the mentioned slot, an arcuate member on the extending end of the rod member in opposed relation to the fixed member, and a spring to bias the rod member in a direction to cause the arcuate member to clamp a shoe with its sole disposed against said outer face of the outer sheet against the fixed member.

2. A shoe holder according to claim 1 in which the fixed member is provided with a roughened surface directed to engage the transverse edge of the shoe heel and to frictionally grip said edge under bias imposed on the arcuate member lby the spring.

3. A holder for a shoe comprising a rack having a forwardly facing flat surface against which theV bottom of a shoe to be supported maybe placed, the rack being adapted to be mounted in a position of said flat surface extending substantially vertically, the rack having an elongated slot extending vertically in said fiat surface, a projection extending forwardly from said surface and positioned below and in alignment with said slot, a rod in the rack rearward of said flat surface and extending iu the same general direction of the slot, the rod being slidable axially thereof and having an end portion extending through said slot, said end portion being adapted to engage the rear of a heel of a shoe to be supported, a spring operatively connected to the rod for normally biasing the rod in a direction of movement of said end portion toward said projection, the projection Ibeing cylindrical and of out-of-round conguration inits cross-section taken upon a plane parallel to said at surface and with the upper and lower halves of the projection Ibeing congruent, and a member on the projection Ifor engagement with the instep surface of the heel of said shoe to be supported, said member having a hole for reception of said projection to mount said member, said hole being ofthe same cross-sectional vcontiguration as the projection whereby said member is mountable on the projection in two positions, one of said positions being that in which said member is rotated on the axis of said hole 180 from the other position, said member having two diametrically opposite edges for selective engagement with the instep surface of a shoe heel, said edges being vertically aligned and one being spaced from said hole at a greater distance than the other whereby said member is adapted to accommodate shoe heels of greatly different sizes.

References cited in the fue of this patent' UNITED STATES PATENTS Boesch Dec. 22, 1959 

